Polemonium, commonly called Jacob's ladders or Jacob's-ladders, is a genus of between 25 and 40 species of flowering plants in the family Polemoniaceae, native to cool temperate to arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. One species also occurs in the southern Andes in South America. Many of the species grow at high altitudes, in mountainous areas. Most of the uncertainty in the number of species relates to those in Eurasia, many of which have been synonymized with Polemonium caeruleum.
Polemonium carneum is a plant native to the northwestern United States west of the crest of the Cascade Range, from Washington south through Oregon to the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
Erysimum menziesii is a species of Erysimum known by the common name Menzies' wallflower.
Gilia capitata is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names blue-thimble-flower, bluehead gilia, blue field gilia, and globe gilia.
Chloropyron molle is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae.
Leptosiphon nuttallii is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Nuttall's linanthus.
Polemonium californicum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names moving polemonium, low Jacob's-ladder, and California Jacob's ladder. It is native to the northwestern United States, where it grows in shady and moist habitat, such as mountain woodlands. It is a hairy, glandular rhizomatous perennial herb forming clumps of several decumbent to erect stems 30 to 50 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves are up to 20 centimeters long and are compound, made up of several pairs of oval to lance-shaped leaflets. The leaflet at the tip of the leaf is often fused to the pair behind it. The inflorescence is a crowded cluster of bell-shaped flowers each up to 1.5 centimeters wide. The flower is blue or purple with a yellow center and a whitish tubular throat. The fruit is a capsule.
Polemonium micranthum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names annual polemonium or annual Jacob's-ladder. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to North Dakota to California as well as disjunct in the Andes of southern Argentina and Chile. It can be found in many types of shrubby habitat, such as sagebrush scrub and foothill woodlands. It is an annual herb with a branching or unbranched stem taking a matted, spreading, or upright form. The slender stems are up to about 30 centimeters long and the herbage is coated in short, soft hairs and stalked glands. The leaves are located along the stem, each divided into several small leaflets. The solitary flowers have small white or pale blue lobed corollas tucked within cuplike calyces of hairy, pointed sepals.
Polemonium pulcherrimum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by several common names, including beautiful Jacob's-ladder, showy Jacob's-ladder, and skunk-leaved polemonium. It is native to western North America from Alaska and Yukon to Arizona and New Mexico, where it can be found in many types of mountain habitat, including alpine talus and rock cracks at high elevations. It is a common and widespread wildflower in several regions. It is a perennial herb producing a clump of several erect stem approaching a maximum height of 30 centimeters. The leaves are mostly basal, with smaller ones arranged along the stem. The leaves are made up of several pairs of lance-shaped to oval or round leaflets. The herbage is lightly hairy, densely glandular, sticky, and strongly scented, the odor reminiscent of skunk. The showy inflorescence is a dense elongated or headlike cluster of bell-shaped flowers each just under a centimeter wide. The flower is deep to bright or pale blue to nearly white with a yellow throat.
Rhodiola integrifolia is a species of flowering plant in the stonecrop family known by the common names ledge stonecrop, western roseroot, and king's crown. It is native to north-easternmost Russia, including Kamchatka, and western North America, where it grows in mountainous habitat in subalpine and alpine climates, including meadows, cliffs, and talus. It is a perennial herb producing a stout stem from a fleshy, branching caudex, reaching a maximum height near 30 centimeters. The fleshy leaves are alternately arranged on the stem, widely lance-shaped to oval and pointed, flat but upcurved toward the tip, reaching 2.5 centimeters long. They are green when new and age to orange, rose, or red. The inflorescence is a dense cyme of up to 50 flowers with fleshy petals in shades of bright red to deep purple. The fruits are red, rounded ovals with pointed tips.
Sidalcea hickmanii is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known generally by the common name chaparral checkerbloom.
Sidalcea oregana is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common name Oregon checkerbloom.
Silene scouleri is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names simple campion and Scouler's catchfly.
Stellaria borealis is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name boreal starwort. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout northern areas of the Northern Hemisphere. It occurs in many types of moist and wet habitat, including marshes, riverbanks, lakesides, floodplains, talus, ditches, and moist spots in forests and woodlands. It is quite variable in appearance, especially across subspecies. In general, it is a rhizomatous perennial herb forming mats of branching, four-angled stems lined with lance-shaped leaves a few centimeters in length. The inflorescence bears many flowers each with five deeply lobed white petals. Some flowers lack petals and have only the five pointed green sepals.
Stellaria longipes is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names longstalk starwort and Goldie's starwort. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring throughout the northernmost latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. It is a perennial herb that grows in a wide variety of habitat types, including tundra and taiga and many areas farther south with subalpine and alpine climates. It is extremely variable in morphology, its form depending on both genetic makeup and environmental conditions. It has a widely varying number of chromosomes. In general, it is a rhizomatous perennial herb forming mats or clumps, or growing erect. The stems may be short and simple or with sprawling and highly branched. The linear to lance-shaped leaves are usually 1 to 4 centimeters long and are oppositely arranged in pairs. The inflorescence bears one or more flowers, each on a short pedicel. The flower has five pointed green sepals each a few millimeters long. There are five white petals each divided into two lobes, sometimes shallowly, but often so deeply there appear to be two petals. The plant is gynodioecious, with some flowers having functional male and female reproductive parts and others being only female.
Streptanthus glandulosus is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name bristly jewelflower. It is native to California and southwestern Oregon, where it grows in many types of habitat, including grassland, chaparral, and woodlands. Genetic and other analyses indicate that it is a species complex with ten subspecies which evolved as populations were isolated from each other. The complex includes subspecies previously considered separate species, such as the rare Tiburon jewelflower endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area. Plants in the complex are variable. In general they are annual herbs growing 10 centimeters to over a meter in height. They may be hairless hairy to bristly. The ephemeral basal leaves have blades borne on winged petioles. Leaves higher on the stem are linear to lance-shaped and clasp the stem at their bases. Flowers occur at intervals along the upper stem. Each flower has an urn-shaped calyx of sepals one-half to over one centimeter long which can be almost any color from white to yellowish to pink or purple to nearly black. Purple, white, or purple-veined white petals emerge from the tip. The fruit is a straight or curving silique up to 11 centimeters long.
Streptanthus insignis is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names plumed jewelflower and San Benito jewelflower. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the Inner Central Coast Ranges. It grows in grassland and chaparral habitat, usually on serpentine soils. It is an annual herb producing a hairy, bristly, branching stem up to about 60 centimeters long. The lance-shaped basal leaves are borne on short petioles. Leaves midway up the stem are longer, and those near the top are shorter. They sometimes clasp the stem at their bases. Flowers occur at intervals along the upper stem. The uppermost flowers are often sterile and different in form. Each fertile flower has a bell-shaped calyx of sepals which is purple or greenish-yellow depending on subspecies. The petals at the tip are purplish or yellowish, also depending on subspecies. The fruit is a flat, straight silique which may be over 11 centimeters long.
Paronychia chartacea is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names papery Whitlow-wort and paper nailwort. It is endemic to Florida in the United States. There are two subspecies of the plant; ssp. chartacea occurs in Central Florida, especially the Lake Wales Ridge, and ssp. minima is native to the Florida Panhandle. The two subspecies are geographically separated and do not occur together. Both are included on the federal Endangered Species List, on which the species is designated threatened.
Polemonium pectinatum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names Washington Jacob's-ladder and Washington polemonium. It is endemic to the state of Washington in the United States, where it occurs in the Columbia Basin, including the Channeled Scablands and the Palouse.
Polemonium vanbruntiae is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family Polemoniaceae. It is known by the common names Appalachian Jacob's ladder, bog Jacob's-ladder, and Vanbrunt's polemonium. It is native to eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.
